1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a processing method of waste toner which is capable of improving the handling property of the waste toner generated when an image of electrophotography from such as a copier and a printer is formed and collected by a cleaning process, and a processing device which enables such a processing, and an image forming device having such a processing device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an image forming device of an electrophotography system, first, after charging a surface of a photoreceptor uniformly, an electrostatic latent image is formed by an exposure corresponding to a desired image. Next, a process in which the latent image is developed by toner in a developing device and is transferred to a piece of paper, and then the toner image is fixed, is performed.
And then, as disclosed by JP 2008-39865 A, toner remaining on the photoreceptor after the transfer process is collected by a cleaning process, and the waste toner is discharged to a detachable waste toner storage container 7 such as a toner bottle, and is discarded (refer to FIG. 3 of the present invention).
In addition, JP 2008-39865 A discloses storing waste toner in a limited space effectively, in which a mechanism such as a transport screw is attached (refer to FIG. 4 of the present invention), which results in high cost, and thus it is necessary to discharge the waste toner inside a container and reuse the waste toner container.
Waste toner generated after an electrophotography image is formed becomes finer compared with toner before being used, which is about 3-10 μm, and further minor powder of 1 μm or less is mixed, therefore fine particles fly in all directions when handling, and thus it is a serious work for a serviceman of an image forming device when carrying out maintenance or the like, and a handling operation is quite dirty, and is undesirable to an owner (a customer), etc., where the image forming device is set up.
Meanwhile, since there are pigments, resins, wax and polarity control agent, which are original components of toner mix, with silicon fine particles, which are an external additive or the like in the waste toner, dust occurs easily.
In addition, the resin property in toner made by a crushing method and that in toner made by a polymerization method is different, and in a case of an image forming device having a color image, there is a possibility that the toner made by the crushing method and the toner made by the polymerization method or the pigments are mixed, therefore it is necessary to take a countermeasure considering both of them.
Here, the following methods have been proposed as processing methods of waste toner which can improve the handling property of the waste toner.
JP 2008-155167 A proposes a technology of spraying a surface-active agent to waste toner, which makes it moist. However, during the surface-active agent processing in this method, not all the waste toner can be treated, therefore there is a possibility that a sufficient effect might not be achieved.
In addition, although a processing method of waste toner in which the waste toner melts by heating, and then solidifies is proposed by JP 4105151 B, JP 2005-309246 A, and JP 2001-134010 A, problems arise such as a possibility of generation of poisonous gases to the human body by heating the waste toner, and generation of nasty smells and an unpleasant odor, in addition, security measures such as temperature control and overheating protection are needed during the processing, and thus a problem in that the processing cost increases is caused, as well.
Furthermore, JP 3245625 B and JP 3227199 B propose a method that adds degradable materials to promote degradation of binder components contained in waste toner, but the degradable materials can not correspond to all the toner processings, and the method is not a technology to improve the handling property of the waste toner either.